The Cabin Boy
by Lunachick
Summary: Jim Hawkins is thrilled to get a job on a solar galleon during his second year at the Academy. But what happens when, in the course of the voyage, he discovers that the cabin boy is not what he seems? SECOND HALF OF CHAP THREE UP!
1. Chapter One

Hello! This is a Treasure Planet fic that I have been working on for almost2 years. I am very picky about my writing so don't be surprised if it's several days between posts. They will be worth the wait. (I hope!) Anywho, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy!  
  
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The flames roared and echoed in her ears, and the sharp crackle and hiss of burning wood made her wince. She opened her eyes slowly, afraid of what she would see. She saw a flaming inferno of what once was her home, and a wave of panic rose in her throat. She looked frantically around, trying to gather her bearings. She found herself in the middle of the path, staring up at the huge house that she had lived in all of her life. The roof of the mansion collapsed inward, and the house was leveled in a moment, a smoldering pile of ashes. She realized a split second later what had been in that house when it collapsed.   
  
"DADDY!!"  
  
* * *  
  
Nicole mopped her brow. It was hot and humid in the kitchens. She could hardly bear the sticky air as it clogged in her throat and choked her. She gathered the dirty pots and pans and added them to her already mile high stack of plates and silverware. Nicole lifted the basin and struggled toward the washroom. Her feet dragged as she stumbled along, positively drenched with sweat and steam. She reached the room, with its humongous basins and spigots. Nicole dumped the dishes into the largest bin and took the basket back for more dirty dishes. The stench emanating from the basins was almost unbearable, and the moist air clung to her damp curls. Her arms ached and her head throbbed with the roar of the dinner rush. She hated this job with a passion, but paid well, and it was about all she could get. No one hires sixteen-year old orphans. It's bad for business. Nicole had something to be thankful for though, she at least had a job. Otherwise.... well she didn't know what she would do otherwise. Letting this thought flit about in her imagination, she slowed her pace and eventually came to a halt. She stood still for a while, thinking hard, but the moment was to be short-lived. Nicole was shocked back into reality by a booming clairvoyant voice echoing in her head.   
  
"BRAT! Get back to work!!" screamed MacGruder, the owner of the small and unsightly establishment. Nicole clapped her hands over her ears in a fruitless attempt to block out the noise. "Clean off table thirteen now!!"  
  
"Yessir." she mumbled halfheartedly. " Brat clean the tables," she muttered, "Brat sweep the floor, Brat do this, Brat do that. Vloek het, my name is Nicole, not brat!" But still, she roused herself and headed to the table indicated. As if by magic, the thought appeared in her head, and she made sure not to think twice, lest she change her mind. Nicole made to sweep the dishes into the bin, but at the last second yanked the bin out from under the table and let the dishes fall to the floor with an ear-shattering, yet oddly rewarding, crash.   
  
* * *  
  
As she limped down the road later that night, she decided that the sound of dishes smashing on the floor and the satisfaction of MacGruder's fury was well worth the beating that had followed. He had smashed her good, and she was pretty well convinced that her wrist was sprained. But that was all right with her, no beating would replace the dishes, or bring back the displeased customers. But it didn't ease the pains that reverberated through her chest, each gasp of air tugging on what she was sure were bruised ribs. Nicole sat down on a crate in the alley and tried to catch her breath. She was as little bit frightened, to be perfectly honest. And who could blame her? It was near midnight, the witching hour, when all the drunkards stumbled home, and anyone they came across was in alarming danger. Nicole was thoroughly worried not only for herself but for her orphans. She had to keep going. If she didn't get home, the little ones would worry, and they might even betray their hideaway. That would be the end. Nicole had very specific rules about this. They were not to leave the den after sundown, and if they left during the day, they were to travel in pairs. Otherwise, they'd all get sent to orphanages and it would be curtains for their little family. Nicole shuddered and stood shakily. She had to get home tonight, no matter what.  
  
* * *  
  
Nicole sighed as she crawled down the tunnel to Magnolia Cove, named for the river that ran beside it. None of the inhabitants ever called it by its name, though. To the many who lived below ground in its warm confines, the cave was known simply as "The Den". The lamp was dim and the room smelled slightly of dirt, but that was to be expected, as the den was really an underground hollow. At the bottom of the ladder, she was met with a small, screaming posse. One screamed for a glass of warm milk, two others wanted to get permission to go out tomorrow, another two begged for a lullaby. Nicole sighed and shushed them.   
  
"Kiera, Charlie, yes you may go out tomorrow, but you have to stick together. Dierdre, get Ashlyn a glass of warm milk please? Grant, Ashlyn," Here she had to revert to ISL, and speak while she signed, "Get into your beds and I'll sing to you." Grant and Ashlyn jumped around, Grant screaming and Ashlyn squeaking. They danced about, and then made their way to bed. Nicole went over to Dierdre and gave her a big hug.  
  
"How was your day?" asked Dierdre as she poured the warmed milk into a small cup.   
  
"Awful. I'll tell you about it later" Nicole walked over and sat down on Ashlyn's cot, and the small Feline crawled into her lap, head against Nicole's chest where she could feel the vibrations of the song resonating. Ashlyn was deaf, and spoke only ISL, or Interstellar Sign Language. She loved to feel Nicole's singing as much as Keira, Grant and Dierdre loved hearing the lullabies. Charlie, 14, pretended to hate them and said he was too old, but she knew that he wouldn't go a night without them. Dierdre at 15 had no such qualms, and begged as wholeheartedly as the rest. Grant was 6 and often got frustrated that he couldn't stay awake to hear the end of the song. Ashlyn always began purring about halfway through, and combination of sounds would knock his lights out faster than a right hook to the temple.  
  
"What would you like to hear tonight??" Nicole asked the group. The response was more than she had been prepared for, and she had to cover her ears just to protect her hearing. The only one she could understand was Ashlyn, who wasn't making any noise at all, simply signing rapidly, 'Unicorn, unicorn'.   
  
"Okay, everyone, quiet down, quiet down. I have decided!" She put on a tone of mild superiority, as though she were about to announce the winner of the Best Dressed at the Intergalactic Awards. She watched as Charlie signed to his sister that she had picked a song. Nicole winced as the children settled into their cots, the sound of rusty springs echoing through the cavern. The mattresses had been rescued from the town dump, and had been cleansed of rotting food by rinsing them in the stream that ran next to The Den. They had been wet for days, nut eventually were suitable for use. They still smelled a little moldy, but nobody complained, and for that Nicole was grateful. She didn't know if she could handle one more thing. She breathed deeply of the earthen air, and hummed a chord to herself, to get a feel for the song that she hadn't sung since, well she wasn't sure how long ago it was. Definitely a long time, though. The song was one of her favorites, and she remembered her father singing it to her when she was very young, and someone else singing it even before that. Nicole paused to think for a second, wondering why Ashlyn requested it after such a long time. Whatever, it didn't really matter. Nicole was ignoring Ashlyn's feline instincts, and the obvious confrontation with her past. But that didn't matter now. She had to get these guys to sleep before dawn, or she'd never be able to get them up in the morning. She hummed a little more, and tapped her fingers on the tattered bedspread. Nicole leaned against the soil wall, cuddled Ashlyn to her, and began to sing in a soft, clear voice.  
  
"When the last eagle flies,   
  
over the last crumbling mountain,  
  
And the last lion roars,  
  
at the last dusty fountain,  
  
In the shadow of the forest,   
  
though she may be old and worn,   
  
They will stare unbelieving,  
  
at the last unicorn.  
  
When the first breath of wind,   
  
through the flowers is icing,  
  
And you look to the north,  
  
and a pale moon is rising,  
  
And it seems like all is dying,  
  
and will leave the world to mourn,  
  
In the distance, hear her laughter,  
  
it's the last unicorn,   
  
I'M ALIVE!! I'M ALIVE!!  
  
When the last moon is cast,  
  
over the last star of morning,  
  
And the future is past without even   
  
a last, desperate warning,  
  
Look into the sky, where through,  
  
the clouds a path is formed,  
  
Look and see her,   
  
how she shimmers,  
  
It's the last unicorn,  
  
I'M ALIVE!! I'M ALIVE!! I'M ALIVE!!"  
  
Nicole ended the song softly, not with the burst of sound requested. She hadn't wanted to wake anyone, or disturb their rhythmic snores. She slowly set Ashlyn down on her bed and crept over to her own. It was very late into the morning, and the purple night sky was tinged with pink, and the glow flowed down the tunnel and into the cave. Nicole sighed, and her ribs tightened maliciously. Hopefully they would sleep late, and she might actually get some rest. She crawled under the warm covers, and sleep washed over her like a wave upon the shore.   
  
* * *  
  
The next morning the light crept slowly down the tunnel and flashed around the Den. It blinked this way and that and finally settled on Nicole's face. Her eyelids fluttered lazily and she groaned inwardly. Another day at the Academy Inn was more than she could handle. 'Get up sleepyhead. Come payday you'll be glad you did. Get up, get up, get up!!' She told herself. Nicole tried to get up out of bed, but her whole body ached from the bruises she had received yesterday. She groaned again and tried to roll over, but was dived upon by Grant.   
  
"Nickie!! Nickie!! Charlie burned my breakfast!!" He whined. Grant and Ashlyn hated burned breakfasts, and they were finicky eaters anyway. Charlie's cooking only aggravated the situation. Nicole sighed tiredly. Charlie was the only one of them that was willing to get up at the ####'s crow to buy Mantabird eggs and Spink bacon. Nicole walked over to the cooking fire and was met with five large plates full of black, crispy... something. And whatever the something was.... it smelled really, really bad. She ran a hand over her face in frustration. She scooped up the burnt food and dumped it into the trash bin. She reached into her pocket and pulled out two drabloons.   
  
"Charlie, go buy one more batch of eggs, and this time, I'm cooking." Charlie scowled and stomped away. He climbed up the ladder, muttering something in the way of, "-- who --s she think she --?"   
  
"I heard that Charlie!" she called after him. She sighed for what seemed the millionth time that morning. Nicole walked over and shook Ashlyn out of bed. The small Feline yawned widely and mewed. Ashlyn blinked sleepily, and twitched her nose suspiciously, then made a face of disgust. "I know, Ashlyn, I know, I'm fixing that," she signed to the girl, "I sent him for more breakfast." Nicole walked over to Keira's bed and tried to shake her awake. The girl groaned and rolled over, but shot up out of the bed once she caught a whiff of the breakfasts Charlie had wrecked.   
  
"Ugh! Gross! Did you let Charlie cook again?? Eeew!" She squealed. Nicole jumped on her, pinned her to the bed and began to tickle her. Keira tossed around in the bed squealing and shrieking, until finally Nicole decided that it would not be a good idea if Keira wet the bed. Then she got off the bed and met Charlie at the bottom of the ladder. She made sure to take the eggs from him right away, so that he wouldn't try to 'help'.   
  
"Charlie, would you take Ashlyn and Grant out to the stream and give them a bath? Then you're allowed to go out for the day. Keira, go help him." She handed the eggs to Dierdre, who tossed them into the frying pan she had laying over the fire. Nicole leaned against the dirt wall, closed her eyes and yawned deeply. Her back hurt again and she felt her knees tremble. She and Dierdre were the only ones still in the Den. Dierdre, who was a Noxian, always knew intuitively when something was bothering one of the gang.   
  
"What did you dream about last night?" she asked. Nicole sighed. Resistance was futile.  
  
"It was really weird. I dreamed that I took you to the Inn, and then I was a boy, and then I was on a ship with this really cute captain dude. I don't remember the whole thing. It was really funny-feeling though, like I was supposed to do something and I wasn't sure what. I dunno, it was real weird." Dierdre sat down on a chair, put her chin in her hands and looked pensive.   
  
"Hmmmm," she murmured. "That makes some sense, but not enough."   
  
"What do you mean?" Nicole asked, "Do you understand it?"   
  
"No, but I think you were having a 'preview'. You know, like a vision of the future. Maybe I should go to the Inn with you today." Dierdre looked confused still, but seemed a little brightened by the solution.  
  
"That won't work today, Charlie and Kiera are going out. No one will be here to watch Grant and Ashlyn, unless we drop them off at Linney's...." she trailed off, tying up the loose ends in her head. "Okay, we'll drop the little ones off with Linney and have Charlie and Kiera pick them up later. You can come with me to the Inn. Who knows? Maybe that dream did mean something." She smiled at Dierdre. "Oh my gosh! The eggs!" She swooped down and grabbed them off the fire.  
  
"That was a close one! You almost pulled a Charlie on me!" Dierdre laughed. Nicole laughed too, and soon the two were collapsed in giggles on the floor, clutching at their sides, with tears rolling down their cheeks.   
  
* * *  
  
Nicole was dressed in her cleanest skirt and blouse, which wasn't saying much. The clothes were still dirty and worn, but they were all she had. She wrapped her arms around herself and shivered, for lack of a winter coat. She grasped for Ashlyn's hand, and found it to be as icy cold as her own. She looked back and saw Dierdre carrying Grant, who was shivering uncontrollably. Curse the weather! It had been quite warm only last week, and they had held out hope for a light winter. No such luck. This winter was one of the coldest yet, and not one of the orphans had a winter coat.   
  
"Come on, Ashlyn, only a few more blocks until we get to Sabra's house. Aren't you excited?" She signed to the girl rapidly, trying to get her hands back into their pockets.  
  
"Y-y-yes-s-s." Ashlyn shivered as she signed back. Nicole's eyes watered. She hated this. All the poverty, not being able to provide necessities, it was awful. Nicole pulled her shawl off and wrapped it around Ashlyn, winding it several times around the small body. Ashlyn had long, flowing, black hair, and cat-like features. Her eyes were a piercing gold that could either make your blood run cold or make your heart melt, depending on what mood she was in. She looked a lot like her brother, Charlie, who had similar eyes, but brown hair that he kept trimmed close to his head. They had been on the streets for about a year before Nicole found them, and they had not been doing so well. Ashlyn had been near death from starvation, and Charlie almost died of the cold, having given his coat to Ashlyn. Nicole took them in and got them fed and warmed. She had been doing this for years, it was almost like an underground society. She had established homes all around the planet for the orphans who snuck aboard the Academy's ships. Linney's house was one of the shelters that Nicole had helped build. Linney herself was a large twenty-two year old girl with the sweetest disposition you could ever hope for. She currently cared for about six orphans, and was an orphan herself, like Nicole. Ashlyn's best friend, Sabra, lived with Linney, and Linney often babysat for her and Grant when Nicole needed help. Of course the favor was always returned when Linney needed help herself. They turned the corner and walked down the alley to a ramshackle warehouse that looked abandoned. That was part of the disguise, no one ever ventures into an abandoned warehouse. This way Linney and her crew were always left alone. Nicole rapped sharply on the door, her knuckles stinging from the cold, hard, metal. The door opened to reveal a heavyset woman with a wide toothy grin. Nicole smiled back and allowed herself to be pulled into a ferocious hug.   
  
"Nicole, dear, why you no come see me no more? Always love guest! Come in, come in, you freezing cold. Sabra! You friend here! Ah! Deeder!" Nicole stifled a giggle. With her heavy accent, Linney had never been able to pronounce Dierdre's name. "Deeder! Come, come, come! Put boy down and give me hug!" Linney near suffocated Dierdre and Grant, not having waited for her to put him down. "Come in! Come have tea. Fresh brewed! Good and warm, make you not so shivery!"   
  
"Actually, Linney, we have to go now. We're already late for work. I promise I'll come by again soon, and thanks for taking Ashlyn and Grant."   
  
"Is no problem, you know that. Hokay, you go now. Bye-bye! Say bye-bye kiddies!" The group of small children waved exuberantly at the pair. Nicole and Dierdre waved back, and, collecting her shawl from Ashlyn, went out the door. The biting wind nipped at her face and hands, but she was a little warmer now that she had her shawl. She turned around to face Dierdre. 'Ooh!' she thought, 'Bad idea!' Her neck was sore and her back ached whenever she twisted her head. Dierdre saw her wince and spoke up.  
  
"What happened last night?" she asked, "Did he beat you again?"  
  
"Yeah. I broke a set of dishes. I don't really wan to talk about it." She stepped over a large stone and winced as the stretch in her muscles became unbearable. Dierdre caught her hand and assisted her around a pothole. Nicole looked at the girl, and remembered finding her hiding with her sister in an alley. The two, Dierdre and Kiera, were from the planet Noxia, and were naturally black. Literally with ebony skin, the blackest hair imaginable, and black eyes, the only part of them that was detectable in the dark alley was the glimmer of the whites of their eyes in the dying firelight. She had found them huddled in a black coat that was obviously not theirs, as it was too big for either of them. They had been near frozen and quite thin. She had brought them back to the cave, already inhabited by Ashlyn and Charlie. The five children had grown into a family, with Nicole acting as matriarch. The children all looked up to her and respected her, except for Charlie, who had a hard time respecting anyone.   
  
"Do you think that he'll let you back?" Dierdre asked, "I mean, you did break the dishes. What makes you think you weren't fired?"  
  
"Of course I'm still hired. You think he'd release his favorite punching bag? No way." She made a grim face and shook her head. They were entering the town now, and were passing the Post Office. Nicole looked in the window and saw that there were a ton of 'Most Wanted' signs. As she walked by the Post office everyday, Nicole tended to stop and try to memorize the faces on the signs, just in case one of them made an unexpected stop in one of the alleys near their home. There were the standard assortment of ugly and sinister looking bad guys, but there was also a sign that advertised a need for young men as spacers on a Royal Escort ship. This intrigued Nicole, but her heart sank like a stone in water as she remembered the "No Female Spacers" law that had been passed two years ago. She remembered it only because it had broken Ashlyn's heart not to be able to follow her hero, Captain Amelia Cymric, now Captain Amelia Doppler. After the famed Captain had retired to raise a family, the Empire jumped on the opportunity to eliminate females of any species to take a job on a solar galleon. Nicole groaned and began walking, flinching at the pain that shot up her calves.  
  
"Now, Dee, we can't be late, so step it up. And when we get there, just do what everyone tells you to, and don't complain. You'll probably be a busboy... er... girl, and you have to clean all the dirty dishes off the tables. But you have to do the job quickly or you'll get yelled at by the big orange guy and you don't want that." Dierdre nodded to show that she understood, but wanted to interrupt. Nicole couldn't let her or she'd lose her train of thought. "If you take too long to clean the tables, the customers will complain and you'll get bawled out by those sissy waitresses. They think you'll cost them their tips, but in reality they weren't gonna get any anyway. IF anyone besides the boss yells at you, just roll your eyes and walk away, that way they know not to mess with you."   
  
"Chill, Nicky! I got it, I know. I've been to work with you before and I was a busboy then. What makes you think I'll mess up today?" The Noxian's voice was calm and soothing, and the use of the obscure nickname that Grant had come up with told Nicole that Dierdre was worried for her.   
  
"I know Dierdre, but I'm worried 'bout you. I don't know if you can handle this." Nicole's voice touched on a whine that sounded pathetic even to her own ears.  
  
"Calm down, Nicole. I am sure I can handle this. Don't worry about me." The girls reached the employee's entrance that was unsurprisingly less elaborate than the entrance intended for the guests. Once inside, Nicole and Dierdre sighed in relief as the warm air rushed over them. Oh, the sweet smells of breakfast were terrorizing the empty bellies. Nicole sighed rather loudly, and the noise caught the attention of one of the cooks.  
  
"Oh Nicola, dearie! The boss wants to see you right away. Says he has an important message for you. Hurry up now, dearie! Go, go, go!" Nicole groaned. This was not good. She looked up at Maya, the one who had delivered the message. There was a spark of worry in her eye, (Nicole shrugged it off, Maya was paranoid) but there was also a glimmer of fear. Oh man, definitely not good. Maya was a class 'A' paranoid mixed with hypochondriac, but it took a lot to actually scare her. When Maya thought she had the Sputum flu, and she was going to die in three days, she had accepted it and gone about her work as normally as possible. When she woke up healthy as a horse on the fourth day, she had celebrated raucously. To have Maya actually worried about something was definitely dangerous.   
  
"Okay, Mama, don't worry." Nicole used the familiar nickname and saw the large woman soften. "I can handle it. I handled Leiko didn't I? When she tried to rail me for stealing her tip and I hadn't? Yeah, and I don't think MacGruder has claws like that she-beast." Maya smiled at the memory and Dierdre giggled at the story.  
  
"You win, dearie, you win. Now get along before old Maya has any more chance to worry herself. Go on, get going."  
  
"Yes, Mama." Nicole smiled to the older lady and received a broad toothless grin in return. She giggled and waved goodbye to Dierdre. As soon as she had turned her back on the two, the smile melted off her face. She shivered in anxiety and felt her heartbeat speed up. She tried in vain to calm herself, but in spite of her efforts her hands began to shake and her palms became sweaty. She climbed the back stairs that led to his office, wincing each time the stairs creaked. She pushed gently on the door, peeking around the corner like a scared kitten.  
  
"COME IN." said a gruff voice in her head. Despite herself, she rolled her eyes at this. The creature didn't have a mouth, and instead spoke telepathically into the heads of his employees. It was annoying to said employees, but he found it quite convenient. If he had yelled audibly, the customers would have heard. But the way that he yelled, the patrons downstairs were blissfully ignorant.   
  
"Yes, Mr. MacGruder? You asked for me?"   
  
"Yes, Brat. I have decided that, as of last night, you have been promoted."  
  
"P-pr-promoted, sir?" Nicky stumbled over the unexpected word.  
  
"Yes, girl, promoted. You showed me that you are much too old to be bussing tables. You have reached a level of maturity where it is downright embarrassing to have you working at such a lowly position. Am I right?" Here his slanted eyes became menacing, and the red pupils glowed evilly against the orange, scaly skin. One of his tentacles snaked around the desk to wind itself around the leg of her chair. She watched it out of the corner of her eye, and it stilled, brushing her ankle. She shivered, and returned to looking at her boss. "You will not be working as a busboy anymore." She stopped breathing, and stared at him. She thought to herself, 'Oh boy, this is it, I am soooooo fired.'   
  
"No, no, my dear girl, not fired," he said smoothly, reading her mind, "You will be working as a waitress from now on."  
  
"WHAT? A WAITRESS? No way, no WAY!" Nicole stood up so quickly she knocked her chair over. " I can't be a waitress! I have zero people skills! Zero, nada, zip, the empty set, NONE!! I won't get any tips and I'll be fired in a week, tops!" She paced around the room, still screaming, as her mind began to fly from one worry to another. She was so preoccupied with her own internal ramblings that she did not hear the boss's whispered, "Exactly." 


	2. Chapter Two

Author's note: Well, I hardly expected anyone to actually read my story, much less like it, but apparently ya'll are more on top of things than I thought. A special thank you goes out to PixieGirl13 for being way ahead of schedule. I hardly had Chapter One posted before she was on, flattering me and asking for more. Thank you very much! *hugs* Now, on with the show! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Jim was beginning to get worried. It had been two weeks since he had received the good news and one week since he sent the message to the Benbow Inn asking his mother, the Dopplers and B.E.N. to meet him at the Academy Inn so that he could tell them of the glorious event. He had not received any kind of response, but that was expected; his mother did not have the money to spare to send him a letter. At first he hadn't worried at all, he knew she would come, but as the day had drawn nearer he had become more and more anxious. What if she couldn't make it? What if she couldn't find the money? 'Oh, shut up!' he told himself, 'the Dopplers are plenty rich enough to lend her a hand.' He was being stupid, he knew, but his head was so full of excitement and worry that there was no room left for sanity. He sighed and sat down on his bed. The dorm room was emptied out of all the other inhabitant's belongings. He was by himself, and he was in the right mood for it. There was a soft pitter-patter of rain on the window and the gentle whistle of the wind coming in through the cracks in the sill. He lay back on his bed, thinking. There was one week left till the deadline of his decision, and he had no clue as to what he was going to do. Ah, well, dwelling on it wasn't going to get him anywhere as long as he was this unfocused. His friends, Ulan and Odongo, came in the door and plopped down on the bed next to Jim.  
  
"Hey man, what's up?" inquired Ulan.  
  
"Hey. Not much, I'm just feeling kind of weird about all this." He made a face and sighed.  
  
"We know what you mean. The offer that the Headmaster made at the end of term is anything but a secret. Do you want to talk about it?" Odongo, the more sensitive of the two, offered. The boys were really a boy, a boy with two heads. They had pale blue skin and short, spiky purple hair. Their heads became one body at the base of the neck where they melted into one pair of broad, strong shoulders. Ulan and Odongo had become quite popular with the girls in the nearby village, and were known to disappear on the weekends, only to reappear at school the next day bright and early with a big smile plastered on each of their faces. Jim had befriended the two boys during the first week at the Academy. Two years later, and with many mishaps and demerits under their belts, they were still friends and hung out every day. Jim had told them all about Treasure Planet. They loved the story and had even taken notes in hopes of publishing the story in a second- hand account. After a while they had understood Jim's desire to keep the tales quiet, and had tossed the note cards into the rubbish bin. Jim had thanked them and they had shrugged it off, but the three were bound forever in secrecy.  
  
"No, I don't really, thanks. It's something I need to discuss with my family and I'll make the decision with their input. That's why I invited them to dinner tonight. I really hope they come."  
  
"Okay, bro, that's cool with us. We have to go see old Doc Arnold about our test grades. He thinks we cheated on the finals. Apparently we did too well for us to have acted alone. We told him two heads were better than one, so he awarded us 20 demerits apiece and gave us detention for a week for mouthing off toward a teacher."  
  
"Ouch! That burns! Whaddya gonna do about it?" Jim raised an eyebrow towards the two.  
  
"We are going to spend the week trashing his office from the inside out. You know, start out by switching some files around, then swap the drawers around in the desk until finally he loses his mind and lets us go. Same thing we did with Brenner. You know how that turned out." Ulan gave Jim a smug look. Jim knew exactly what he was talking about. Professor Brenner had given the boys detention and was keeping watch when suddenly he was called out of the room. While he was gone the boys had exchanged the files in his drawers until everything was a big mess. When the professor came back he began to look for something in his drawers and had been unable to locate it. He searched for hours until he went crazy and ran screaming from the building.  
  
"Ah. Don't you think they'll catch on? I mean, every time you get detention another teacher visits the asylum. See the pattern?" The boys shook their heads so violently Jim was sure they would collide.  
  
"Nah. They're too thick." Odongo answered, "In fact we were really excited when Arnold gave us detention. See, this way we can get rid of him before they can figure anything out. You know, knock him off before we're even suspects." Jim nodded to show his understanding. Then he looked at his watch.  
  
"What time are you supposed to be in his classroom for detention?"  
  
"Um, around 'o-six-hundred-hours'. Why what time is it?" Ulan asked with concern, seeing the look on Jim's face.  
  
"About six-thirty." He laughed as the boys jumped off the bed and ran out of the room yelling goodbyes over their shoulders. Then he got up out of bed too. He had to get dressed right now. He was supposed to go to the Inn at seven to meet his mother, the Dopplers and B.E.N. He glanced again at his watch. Now it was closer to six-forty. He sighed and walked to his closet to put on his uniform. He wanted to look nice for his mother. He smiled at his own immaturity and continued dressing.  
  
* * *  
  
Jim was sitting at the scrubbed wooden table, tapping his fingers and checking his watch every minute or so. At last glance it was seven-ten; his mom was late. He was waiting and it was obvious he had been stood up. 'Oh well,' he thought, 'the message must not have reached her.' He stood up and gathered his things when he felt a soft tap on his shoulder. He spun around, and what he saw brought a huge smile to his face. He hugged his mother, Sarah, tightly; after all, he hadn't seen her in a year. When they broke apart he saw standing behind her the Dopplers with their children and of course, the irrepressible B.E.N.  
  
"Hey Jimmy! Long time no see! It's your old buddy B.E.N.! Did ya miss me?? Huh, huh Didja?" the robot jumped around enthusiastically until settling down enough to give Jim a bear hug, which the boy gladly returned. He looked over the little machine's shoulder to see the old Doctor looking around at the many staring people. Jim shrugged off the hug and patted the robot on his rusty head. He gestured toward the table, inviting them all to sit, and after shaking hands with the Captain and Doctor Doppler he joined them.  
  
"Well, Jim my boy, you seem to be doing quite well. Just look at you, all dressed up and looking so proper. I'm so proud." The doctor complimented.  
  
"Dim! Dim! Is Aimee! Missed you!" A small meowing voice cut off the doctor's sentence midway. A chorus of other voices then cut off that voice.  
  
"And Antia! Me too! Missed you too!" Jim reached down to pick up the two young Felines as a third raced to catch up to her sisters.  
  
"Whabout me? Dim give Arina hug?" The third cat cooed.  
  
"Aimee, Anthea, Ariana! I missed all of you. Where's Dallas? Oh there you are. Come here now, don't be shy, it's me, Jim!" The puppy's eyes flew open wide in recognition and he ran in to Jim's open arms.  
  
"Dim! I no see you! How you be?" Jim laughed at the resemblance to his father that appeared in the two-year old's broken speech.  
  
"I be fine Dallas. Now all of you go sit so we can eat. Are you guys hungry?" He winced at the wild response of 'YES!' and the even wilder scampering to their seats so that they could get their dinners. He too returned to his seat and began to scan the menu. Nothing really seemed appetizing. There were several foreign dishes that had intriguing names but a revolting list of ingredients. He looked at the salads and found not a one without some sort of many-legged addition. The chef must be partial to the delicacies of the more... insectoid variety. He looked over and saw similar faces of disgust on all of the guests faces. "Well, maybe we can order a soup."  
  
"Um, I wouldn't do that if I were you," came a voice behind him, "the soups are worse. The only safe dishes are the sandwiches." Jim spun around to face the waitress who had just patiently interrupted their conversation.  
  
"Hello and welcome to the Academy Inn I'm Nicole and I'll be your waitress this evening how may I help you." the girl said all of this rather quickly and all in one breath, and as though she were quite bored with the whole thing. Immediately after she finished her preprogrammed speech, the guests began to ask questions about the contents of each entrée. Jim watched as 'Nicole' rolled her eyes in response to the Doc's endless inquiries about this dish and that. It seemed that the recommendation had been the only form of self the girl was allowed to display. Jim took the opportunity to study her closely. She wore a tattered, white, button down work shirt with small and carefully sewn patches over the numerous holes. The result was somewhat fashionable, in a patchwork quilt kind of way. The blouse was hopelessly stretched in the torso, another obvious sign that the shirt was a hand-me-down. The sleeves were rolled up to conceal small soup stains, but in turn revealed a number of ugly purple bruises on her forearms. It looked as though someone had pounded the girl, and that someone just might have been quite a lot bigger than she. Under the shirt was a long woolen skirt that had apparently had many a previous owner. Under the shabby apron that had been hastily tied on, the fabric was ragged and faded in spots where the color had washed out. There were other areas on the skirt where the weaving had worn thin and the fabric was hanging by one or two threads. The garment was intended to be full length and therefore reach the floor, but sadly fell short by several inches. There had to be at least an inch and a half of bare skin showing between the hem of the skirt and the tops of her ancient leather boots. They were, yet again, evidently not her own. They were laced as tightly as the strings would go, but still had a half an inch between the edges and ankles. They clunked loudly when she walked, and Jim could see that her feet slid around inside. Jim's eyes cautiously found their way back up her slim, seemingly malnourished frame, but there was not far to travel. She was petite, maybe five foot three, and very slightly built. Her long, strawberry blonde hair was pulled back and tied with a length of string at the nape of her neck. It fell to her lower back, almost to her waist, and curled softly the entire length. Her small face was delicate and pale, with a dusting of ginger freckles across her nose. Jim did a double take, however, when his searching eyes reached her left cheekbone. What a shiner! Jim nearly leapt from his chair to shake her hand and congratulate her. In two years at the Academy and all the fights he had seen, never was there such a beautiful ring of purplish-black bruising. He could tell that it was old, and most of the swelling had gone down, but it was still a sight to see. The rest of her features were flawless and attractive, and her smile was actually quite nice. 'Shame it doesn't stay there for long,' Jim thought. Suddenly he caught a glimpse of her eyes. Her eyes were definitely what would have set her apart as beautiful. They were gray, not gray-blue, gray-green, or gray- brown, simply gray, and they seemed to glow with the internal fire of rebellion and mistrust. Jim noticed that Nicole had begun to get impatient with Dr. Doppler's endless questions. She shifted her weight to one foot and began to tap her pen impatiently against the pad she used to jot down orders. The movement caught Jim's eye and he studied the action. He watched the fingers that, while small and thin, were rough and calloused from a lot of hard physical labor. The waitress noticed his watchful eye, and sent him a dirty look that plainly said, "Mind your own business, Buddy!" Jim was caught off guard by the reprimand and averted his eyes with a look like a scolded puppy. Nicole, satisfied that he had been put in his place, resumed her tapping.  
  
* * *  
After the waitress had left, a cool and cutting voice interrupted Jim's thoughts.  
  
"Well, Jim, since you've dragged the lot of us halfway across the Etherium, I am rather erm, curious as to what it is you needed to tell us.' Here the captain's voice began to rise in anger, "It had better be good news, if you called us all the way out her to tell us that you have been expelled or worse, after all the strings I had to pull to get you into that Academy, then let me tell you mister...."  
  
"Amelia!" Dr. Doppler clapped a hand over his wife's mouth. Jim just stared. He had never seen the captain rant before, and it caught him off- guard. The captain's face was blotchy and red, and she struggled behind her husband's hand. The good doctor reached over and removed the captain's wine glass from her reach. Jim's face rearranged itself from an expression of shock and alarm to one of amusement and laughter. When Dr. Doppler had released her, the captain sat back in her seat with her arms crossed on her chest, and a pout on her face. Jim and his mother exchanged looks, swallowed their laughter, and turned back to The Dopplers. The small children were shoveling bread into their tiny faces, completely unaware of the ordeal that had just passed.  
  
"Well Captain, there is no need to worry. I have nothing but good news. I am facing a decision and I wanted your opinions. It is very difficult."  
  
"Oh Jim!" his mother giggled. "I can hardly understand you when you speak like that. Why don't you just go back to normal speech for tonight, then you can be prim and proper again tomorrow at school. Now, tell us again, in plain speak."  
  
"Well, okay. The Headmaster would like to know if I would- no, he wants to know if I wanna be first mate on an escort mission to Valdivia. I would serve the yearlong trip and only have to make up 6 months of the missed school. I don't know if I want to, but I thought I would ask you guys." He let out a breath he didn't know he was holding, and waited for the answer.  
  
"Who will you be escorting?" His mother whispered excitedly. Her eyes were sparkling with excitement, a look he had not seen on her face for as long as he could remember. It broke his heart.  
  
"The Princess Lorelei of the Kingdom of L'avidité. She has been on a visit to the Embassy at Academia. She is going home, and requested of the A- she asked us to take her home." Ignoring his mother's, B.E.N.'s and Dr. and Captain Doppler's exclamations of joy and pride, he started to think. Was the Academy really having such a huge effect on him? It had never been this hard to speak plainly before. What was wrong with him? He was grateful when the clattering arrival of the waitress- Nicole, wasn't it? –shook him out of his unsettling thoughts. She placed a large sandwich in front of him and proceeded around the table, delivering the dishes to the hungry party. She mixed up Dr. Doppler's order with his mother's and set the kittens crying when she forgot the milk. Their mother dropped her head into her hands as the good Doctor tried to hush them. Jim was less than amused, and B.E.N. just clapped his hands over his hypersensitive metal ears. Surprising them all, the waitress knelt down before the screaming triplets and sang quietly to them.  
  
"I've heard there was a secret chord,  
  
That David played, and it pleased the Lord,  
  
But you don't really care for music, do you?  
  
It goes like this,  
  
The fourth, the fifth,  
  
The minor fall, the major lift,  
  
The baffled king composing Hallelujah,  
  
Hallelujah, Hallelujah  
  
Hallelujah, Hallelujah"  
  
Jim blinked a few times. No, he told himself, she really is kneeling down in the middle of a busy restaurant, singing to three crying kittens. I'm not the crazy one. The kittens mewed in relative calm and returned to their meals, having totally forgotten about the milk. Captain Amelia's jaw gaped open, as did Dr. Doppler's, Sarah's and B.E.N.'s. Jim smiled slightly at the looks on their faces, but the girl took no notice of them. She had an extraordinary singing voice, but Jim didn't really register that as he stared at her in disbelief. The young girl walked away to the table across from them, leaving the family in shocked silence. Dr. Doppler was the first to recover, and cleared his throat loudly, bringing the rest of them back to reality.  
  
"Well, then, um, maybe we should just, erm, eat now. Aren't you hungry? I'm hungry. Aren't you?" He betrayed his own flustering calm with the stutters and stumbles that spiked his sentences. All of the diners reached for their forks, but none of said forks reached any of their mouths. Suddenly, Sarah's eyes brightened, and she reached for her handbag.  
  
"Jim, I have a surprise for you!"  
  
* * * 


	3. Chapter Three

Nicole had never been so miserable in her life. She thought that she had hated bussing tables, but that was nothing compared to this. Her arms ached, her feet were sore, her back was creaking every time she bent over and her hair would not stay in its ponytail. It was dangling in her face and driving her crazy. Plus that stupid Academy boy wouldn't stop looking at her, and she knew it wasn't because she was pretty. She had never felt more abused in all her sixteen years, bar none. Well, maybe not when the Boss took it upon himself to test just how easily she bruised. Maybe bar that. But otherwise she had never been gawked at or... well, she didn't know what it was, but she did know she didn't like it. Those precious little Felines were probably the only good part about the day so far. They were so cute, and she just felt awful about forgetting their milk, but there was no way to explain why. There was no reason why. She was just sick and tired of waiting on ungrateful customers who left insignificant tips. She made a noise in her throat, somewhere between a growl and a groan, and turned back to the kitchens to pick up her next order.  
  
"So, finally turned in your bucket in favor of an apron?" came a cool and cutting voice behind her. Nicole didn't even have to turn around to know who it was. "Did you get promoted, or are you just trying to cut in on my tips?"  
  
"Leiko, stuff it," Nicole replied, without turning around. The She-Beast was back. Leiko's jaw dropped open, but she didn't let on. Nicole still hadn't turned around, and Leiko was not gonna let her know. When Nicole did turn around, Leiko was waiting, and stuck her foot out. Needless to say Nicole tripped (it is still considered tripping, no matter how gracefully one does it) and succeeded in spilling the entire contents of table twenty- seven's dinner on the floor. Tears welled in her eyes, not only because the fall did nothing but aggravate her already bruised and battered body, but also because she was sure that now, after this latest debacle, she would be fired. And a girl who gets fired from a job as a waitress doesn't usually get another one. Sure enough, the crash of shattering dishware had been heard all the way upstairs, and as she struggled to sit up, Nicole found herself staring up into the red, slanted eyes of Mr. MacGruder.  
  
* * * Jim looked up from his plate and met his mother's eyes. She was providing a welcome distraction from the inedible... lump on his plate.  
  
"Yeah, Mom?" He watched as she undid the clasp on her out-of-date purse. She reached a finger inside, seemed to poke something, and then Jim heard it. The unmistakable sound. "Morph!" he yelled excitedly. The pink blob flew over to him and nuzzled against his cheek. He clasped his hands around the warm, soft slime that was one of his best friends. The gesture was the closest he could manage to a hug.  
  
"Hooway, it's Moph!" yelled Anthea. Her brother and sisters caught on and cheered wildly until their mother reached over and dropped small cookies on their empty dinner plates. After that, the only sound they made was the slurping and chomping sounds associated with toddlers eating. Jim smiled at them, and at Morph, and then turned to the loudmouthed robot that was trying to recapture his attention.  
  
"Jimmy, this stuff is too brown. I think I'll take it to the kitchen and talk with the cook." Then he looked over at the window that provided guests with a view of the kitchen. The robot's eyes turned a very pale blue, Jim's only clue that he was blanching at the sight of the chef. Jim was following his gaze to the huge Noxian when a loud crash erupted from behind them. Jim turned, immediately pinpointing the origin of the sound. (Not that it was hard to locate the waitress, Nicole, lying on the ground with broken dishes spread all around her) He glanced around and saw that the entire restaurant was staring at her. He winced, wishing he could tell the all to turn around, that it was none of their business, but it wasn't his place. He couldn't really do anything to try to help her anyway, and he wouldn't have after he saw the creature coming down the steps. Orange with eight legs and a swollen egg-shape head, the creature stared down at the girl who was struggling to stand. The creature's red eyes pulsed strangely, and the girl replied. They seemed to be communicating, and Jim couldn't figure out how. Then it clicked, once he saw the girl's hands twitching at her sides and her eyes squeezed shut as if with a headache. She was being yelled at telepathically, so that no one else could hear what he was saying. His own hands clenched at his sides, and he turned pink in the face. That wasn't right! He had no right to do any such thing to his employees. It was against regulations. He made to leave his chair when a soft hand covered his own and he looked up. His mother met his gaze and shook her head gently, telling him not to get involved. She was right, he knew, but it only made him madder to know that he could not help.  
  
"Yes, sir." He heard Nicole say across the room. Then she walked back into the kitchen and returned with a broom. She began to sweep up the mess, and so the customers turned back around, disappointed with the lack of excitement. Only Jim continued to look at her, and only Jim noticed the tears falling from her eyes into the dustpan.  
  
* * *  
  
Nicole was crying not for herself, but for her family. They could not survive. She would have to send them all to live with other units, splitting up their happy little group. She cried on, silently, as she dumped the mess into the trash barrel. Leiko had won, and the chienne knew it. She smirked at Nicole as she walked past, expertly swinging her hips as she balanced the tray on one hand. Nicole only sobbed even more quietly, not trying to stop crying, but trying not to be heard. She walked slowly to the back of the kitchen, to the side entrance where she had come in that morning, the door she would probably never walk through again. She hugged Maya and said goodbye, and tearfully agreed to see Dierdre when she got off work much later that night. The girls hugged tightly, both crying by now, and then separated. Nicole put her flimsy shawl on and walked out the door, pausing on the step to hear it slam behind her. She stepped out into the snow, which had apparently fallen all day while she had been working inside. The tears dripped off her chin and mixed with the ice that coated the pathway. She couldn't see where she was going, and frankly, she didn't care until she walked straight into something hard, warm, and much bigger the she. She looked up at the roadblock, and found herself staring up into the eyes of a vicious Lagarto. The creature was a six-foot lizard with huge arms and long legs, and thick scaly skin the color of puke. It had 2 huge yellow eyes with red pupils that stared down at her like a predator on its prey.  
  
"Well, pretty girlie. What're you doin' out s'late?" His speech was slurred with liquor, and his walk, or rather, slither, was unsteady. He stumbled toward Nicole, and she took several steps backward. "C'mon now pretty, I'm not gunna 'urt you. Jest want you t'gimme sumthin'."  
  
"Sir, I-I don't know what you want, b-but I have nothing to give you. No money, no baubles..." Nicole stammered and stumbled on the ice. She fell backwards into a snowdrift.  
  
"Naw, missy, nuthin' like 'at. Jest a little warmth," his letters were mixing themselves up at this point, and 'warmth' came out as 'wormf'. "Maybe you's could stay the night w'me, seein' as 'ow cold it is.." His sentence trailed off in a loud belch that floated sourly in Nicole's face.  
  
"Um, no t-thank you?" she stuttered, trying to stand up and run away but before she could regain her balance, the Lagarto had leaned forward, so that his face was inches from hers.  
  
"I weren't askin' you. I's tellin' you," he breathed. Nicole paled and her pulse rate sped up. She gulped and grasped about in the corners of her terrified mind for some kind of intelligent response, but came up empty. She attempted to stand, but before she could make any kind of move, a dark figure leapt from the shadows and wrestled the beast to the ground.  
  
* * *  
  
Jim saw the creature approach Nicole, but waited to see if she noticed him. When the two collided, he stepped closer, but remained in the shadows. When he made his threat Jim acted, and threw himself at the bully, putting every fighting maneuver he had ever learned to good use. The drunken creature was no match for him, and soon it was lying spread-eagle on the ground, unconscious. Jim breathed deeply of the cold night air, not unduly winded, (the Lagarto had been almost twice his size) but more immediately concerned with the girl who sat shaking on the ground. He squatted next to her, and put a hand gently on her shoulder. She looked up at him, and her eyes were full of gratitude and fear, a combination that made Jim feel stony and cold inside. She smiled fleetingly, not even a real smile because it didn't stay there for long enough to register. She whispered some unintelligible thank- you, and ran off into the night. Jim stood and watched her go, feeling useless. All the months of training to help people, to protect them, and he was no closer doing any of that than when he hadn't cared at all.  
  
* * *  
  
Nicole was ashamed, and embarrassed. She had dragged that poor Academy boy into her own messy affairs and had not even had the grace to thank him properly. She had run off into the night and not even looked back. She couldn't regret this decision; doubtless the boy had wanted to investigate her further or some other silly schooled notion. She couldn't lead him to the Den, and let him find the little ones. She told herself she did the right thing, but for some reason, way down in the pit of her stomach, she didn't believe it. She felt that maybe the boy could have helped her; maybe he could save her family. She was full to brimming with maybes and what- ifs. She stopped in her tracks, the maybes and what-ifs overflowing and telling her to turn around, to find him, to follow him. But when she turned, he was gone.  
  
* * *  
  
Jim walked slowly back to the front entrance of the restaurant. There he met with his family. His mother was putting her coat on and the Dopplers were putting the toddlers into two double-hover-strollers. The children were snoring contentedly, their bellies full and swelling. Even B.E.N. seemed tired. Jim watched as his small and admittedly oddball family was loaded onto the yacht that would ship them back to Montressor. He watched the skies long after they had disappeared into the night. He studied the stars, and watched the constellations. Cetus, Lupus, Camelopardalis, the familiar shapes winked back at him as he turned to walk back to the dorms. His feet were heavy and his walk was more of a shuffle. He was confused and saddened, the way a child feels when first confronted with a homeless person asleep under a doorway. The child asks questions like, 'Mommy, what are they doing?' and 'Why can't someone give them a home?' But the mother has to tell them that there's nothing that they can do. The child continues on, perplexed, but eventually will give up. Jim could not let go of the feeling that he had just witnessed one of the many injustices of society. That he couldn't do anything to stop it made him sick to his stomach. By the time he reached his dorm, his brain was as tired as the rest of his body, and he collapsed into bed, with a certain lullaby playing in his head.  
  
"Maybe I have been here before, I know this room; I've walked this floor, I used to live alone before I knew you, I've seen your flag on the marble arch, Love is not a vic'try march, It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah.  
  
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah."  
  
* * *  
  
Nicole crawled down the ladder and into the Den. She met a small group of overly tired children who knew no way to express their exhaustion other than whining and pouting. She understood what they meant and what they felt, but really, it was getting pathetic. She was sick and tired of being yelled at and bossed around. The little angels were really trying her nerves now.  
  
"Please! Please just be quiet! I can't hear myself think!" She screamed at them. All four fell silent and stared at her with wide-open eyes. She felt her own eyes water with frustration and regret as each of them looked at her sadly. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled, it's just," here she trailed off. "I just lost my job, and some freak was trying to... but anyway, I'm home now and I'm really sorry I yelled but I couldn't help it." Nicole sat down on the end of her bed and began to cry. She knew that Grant and Ashlyn were heartbroken, if not terrified, but she really didn't feel like singing. She cried somewhere between silence and sobs, but neither were enough. She was dimly aware of Ashlyn crawling into her lap, and of Grant snuggling at her side, but what really brought her back to reality was Charlie's comforting hand on her shoulder. She hadn't seen him caring for anyone but his sister for the longest time. It had taken her three weeks after finding them in the streets to get him to even acknowledge her. Now he was comforting her? This was a changed boy, but Nicole's mind didn't connect it to her own efforts, nor did it accept the credit. She leaned down and whispered something to Ashlyn and Grant. While she would have liked it to stay a secret, that was impossible as everyone in the Den spoke ISL as fluently as she did. The two children jumped up from their seats and ran into the corner of the room that was designated as the kitchen.  
  
"So," said Kiera said conspiratorially. "Gonna bribe them with cookies, are we?" She followed Nicole into the little kitchen.  
  
"Oh yeah!" Nicole laughed. She assembled the mediocre ingredients. They had to stick with the basics: eggs, flour, and sugar. No milk here, just water. She sighed and seized the strand of hair that had gotten loose from the leather ribbon she had tied it back with. The strand of strawberry hair was worried until Nicole feared it would come out of her head. She knew it was bad, but she couldn't help twisting her hair around and around her fingers. When she was younger, she'd had tiny bald spots on her scalp because she would pull the hair out. She growled in frustration and tucked the lock behind her ear.  
  
After the cookies were baked over the open fire outside the Den, Nicole let them children take a handful inside to eat before bed. She sat them down to play Sticks and Stones, with the promise of a lullaby later. She climbed up the ladder and sat on the bridge that sheltered their little hole. She lay back across the railing and stared up at the sky. This had felt like the longest day of her life, but in truth she was usually still working by this time of night. Because she wasn't working, she had no idea what to do with herself. Spending these hours at home had reminded her of just how.... sad their little life was. The children didn't eat dinner or lunch, only breakfast and that only because it was cheaper than the other meals. Sometimes Nicole brought home the scraps from the tables she bussed. People were so wasteful, and as long as the food was still edible, it was eaten. She was so utterly grateful that no one asked questions. As long as it was the right color and didn't smell like a trash can, nobody complained.  
  
Nicole smacked a hand down onto the cold, unforgiving bricks. She had never thought it would be this hard to run a family. When she brought them in, she assumed it would be temporary, and that she would find them all foster or even permanent homes later on. But no one had wanted them. She had never told anyone this, she had just made out that she had never wanted to get rid of them, that she was too attached. By now it was true, and she loved them all, but at the time she had been at her wit's end. Running a family of five misfit orphans was much harder in practice than in theory. She looked up from her lap and saw Dierdre in the distance. Great, she thought, I promised the lullaby when Dee got home. Now I actually have to sing it. Not that she didn't love singing; she just wasn't in the mood tonight. But some things in life don't wait for you to be in the right mood.  
  
* * *  
  
Jim woke to a squeaky, slimy sound. It rang in his ears and jolted him form his dreams. He looked around, at his alarm clock, which said that it was close to midnight, to his roommates, who were snoring contentedly, and down at himself, only to see that he had fallen asleep in his uniform. He sighed in frustration and exhaustion. Jim unbuttoned his outer jacket and laid this wrinkled garment across the back of his chair. He changed into looser fitting pants and crawled back into bed in his undershirt. Suddenly, he heard it again. The squelchy, high pitched noise that his newly conscious mind found it could identify.  
  
"Morph?" he whispered. "Morph, is that you?" He peered out into the gloom; honestly surprised that he had managed to get dressed in the darkness that he now found he could barely see through. But when he felt the warm coolness that was Morph snuggling up against his face, he was satisfied. "Morph! You little scalawag! Why didn't you go home with Mom?" Morph shrugged his little makeshift shoulders.  
  
"Home with Mom," repeated the little shape-shifter. "Home with Mom. Scalawag." The little pink nuisance raised his tiny voice and continued to speak until Jim was forced to clap him between his hands to muffle the sound.  
  
"Shhh!" he hissed. "Morph, if you want to stay you have to be quiet. You're causing more trouble than you know. Now I have to send Mom a telegram and tell her that you stowed away in my pants pocket." He growled in frustration at the awaiting chores. He threw himself backward onto his bed and sighed heavily, reliving the events of the day. Thanks to Morph, he was wide-awake now. He thought back on the girl at the restaurant, (he could no longer remember her name) and found his thoughts wandering to Captain Amelia. He smiled to himself; he really should stop calling her Captain, seeing as how she had been fired. Oh, she would tell you she'd retired, but everyone knew otherwise. She had gotten married and had children and decided to settle down, but the Parliament had had her resignation form filled out, stamped, filed, and had a copy on her desk by that afternoon. She had kept a straight face, but she was hard to talk to for a few weeks. Rather, harder to talk to than usual. Jim sighed. He had been really upset by the whole affair. Mr. Arrows words had spun around and around in his mind.  
  
"There's no finer officer in this, or any galaxy." Jim had never known truer words. Amelia loved what she did, and she was really good at it. It was a tragedy that the Department of Spacing was sexist. The day after they fired Amelia they passed a bill outlawing female spacers. Succumbing to the ancient superstition that women on ships bring bad luck, they had not been persuaded by the ruined return of the Legacy. Jim released a sigh of pent-up anger, and dismissed the recurring feeling that it was his fault. It was Silver's fault, but the old cyborg hadn't known any better. Like a toddler never taught to share. Jim laughed aloud at how many times in the last few hours he had compared his life to that of a toddler. He rolled over onto his side, and let Morph snuggle under his chin as he slowly and grudgingly fell asleep.  
  
* * *  
  
Nicole watched Dierdre slowly approach the hole. She dragged her feet and her head bobbed up and down as though she were sleeping standing up.  
  
"Tired, Dee?" Nicole asked, barely suppressing a laugh.  
  
"Shut up." Replied the exhausted girl. "I just want to sleep for the next week and a half."  
  
"Too bad. You have to get up at dawn tomorrow and go back to work. Sorry babe. You have to suffer the twenty-hour work shifts until I get another job. But I do have an idea. It popped into my head a few minutes ago. I'll talk to you about it in the morning." She moved off the brick side of the bridge but stopped when Dierdre's tired arm grabbed her own.  
  
"No, you can tell me now. Do I smell co-co-cookies?" she said, stifling a yawn.  
  
"Yeah, Ashlyn and Grant made them. Watch where you bite, Ashlyn managed to lose that Suzy doll's head sometime during the baking process." Both girls burst out laughing and walked down the ladder, leaning on each other for support.  
  
* * * 


End file.
